Some iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max users took to social media and Apple’s support forums before Christmas to report an annoying bug: the iPhone screen would show horizontal lines when waking up. The concern was that the screen might be faulty. But some iPhone 14 Pro users got good news when dealing with Apple support staff. The horizontal lines were not a hardware problem but instead a software glitch. That implied a fix in an iOS update would solve the issue.
Nearly a month later, there’s more information on the matter. It looks like Apple has been paying attention to the problem, and a fix is coming. Most likely, the imminent iOS 16.3 release will fix the horizontal lines bug impacting iPhone 14 Pro users.
As MacRumors explains, it wasn’t clear in December whether Apple was planning to fix the bug. Apple Store support staff indicated that an issue with the display’s drivers might cause the horizontal lines to appear. Therefore, a software fix could prevent the iPhone 14 Pro models from showing the lines.
Here’s an excerpt from one user’s experience at an Apple Store:
“I took it to Apple, and they ran diagnostics, and everything came back fine (green). The technician told me that there isn’t an issue with the hardware, that it has to do the software.”
“Apple support member said ‘We are aware of the issue and this is due to the drivers […] It’s definitely a software issue and an update is expected to come soon.’”
But that obviously wasn’t an official stance from Apple. Fast-forward to mid-January and Apple reportedly acknowledged the horizontal lines issue impacting iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models.
The company addressed the matter in a memo that was seen by MacRumors. Apple made it clear that it’s not a hardware issue.
iPhone 14 Pro customers may “report that when they power on or unlock their phone, they briefly see horizontal lines flash across the screen,” the memo says. “Apple is aware of the issue and a software update is coming soon that will resolve the issue.”
Since iOS 16.3 is currently in beta, it’s likely that the final iOS 16.3 release will include a fix for the display glitch, especially if it’s a widespread issue. But it’s unclear at this time how many iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max users suffer from the problem.
Until iOS fixes the issue, you can try unofficial fixes to make those horizontal lines disappear. Some users switched off the Always-on display feature, turned the iPhone 14 Pro off, or reset it to get rid of the lines. But this is a temporary fix, and it might not always work.